SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS. 353 



his name one to be ever associated with the study of 

 British ornithology. Claims to be considered a scientific 

 naturalist he had none, and yet his works will be 

 remembered and revered, when those of far more erudite 

 and accomplished writers have passed away. 



Many books have been written about Thomas Bewick, 

 his art, and his " life and times," but by far the best 

 account of the artist and his work is to be derived from 

 the " Memoir " which he compiled between the years 

 1822 and 1828, and on which he was still engaged at the 

 time of his death.* It was written for the information 

 of his daughter Jane and her brother and sisters, and is 

 a bulky volume of some 316 pages. From it we learn 

 that Thomas Bewick was born in August, 1753,t at his 

 father's house of Cherryburn, near Eltringham, in 

 Northumberland, and was baptized at the neighbouring 

 church of Ovingham, on August 19th of that same year. 

 Thomas was the eldest son of John Bewick, who farmed 

 some eight acres of land at Cherryburn, and leased a 

 small colliery at Mickley Bank. 



Of Bewick's somewhat tempestuous youth it is here 

 necessary to say but little ; he was educated first at 

 Mickley School, and afterwards by the Rev. C. Gregson, 

 of Ovingdean. At a very early age he developed a taste 

 for drawing, and in spite of constant reproof for 

 " misspending " his time, he tells us that " many of my 

 evenings at home were spent in filling the flags of the 

 floor and the hearthstone with my chalky designs." 

 From this the transition to pen and ink, and brush and 

 colour, was rapid ; and the young artist soon commenced 

 to decorate the walls of his neighbours' houses with rude 

 pictures, chiefly consisting of hunting scenes. At the 

 age of fourteen young Bewick was apprenticed to Ralph 

 Beilby, of Newcastle, an engraver ^n a considerable way 

 of business. Under Beilby 's tuition Bewick soon began 



* The " Memoir" was first published in 1862 and again in 1887. 



t Bewick kept his birthday on August 12th, but there is a doubt 

 abovit the exact date. 



